African Bird in Acrylics

Coracias caudatus – African bird acrylic painting using highly pigmented colors and silver and gold acrylics paint. The expression of the bird is realistic while the background emerges the painting in a surreal forest.

Cristina Vivi

----The beginning----I've been drawing all my life. Ever since I could hold a pen in my hand I felt the need to fill that endless and deep white of the paper. I would ask my mother to draw to me so I can watch her. I didn't want to color between her lines or anything, but I had this huge immense pleasure to see her drawing lines and completing a beautiful world on a lifeless piece of paper. I am so thankful for her immense patience on drawing for me whenever I asked her to.

----Drawing forever----I used to draw a lot in kindergarten: princesses and sailor warriors, strong smiling girls with crowns and gowns. I used to draw stories I invented in my head. I didn't have paper to draw on the most of the time so my passion turned into little mischievous deeds. I would draw on the unseen side of the bed, or on the interior of the closet doors and I always longed to draw on the entire walls of our home.

----More than passion----I kept drawing and painting, although when I was in school I used to have low grades on Arts because I couldn't stand to be told by someone what to draw. They were lousy drawings.

But I kept drawing all the time, and I also followed a graphics course, although as a profession I followed computer science and now I work as a programmer assistant and junior tester. I will never stop drawing while I keep breathing and my hands keep moving.